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Philippine Commonwealth Army
The Philippine Commonwealth Army (PCA), also known as the Commonwealth Army of the Philippines (CAP) (official name Hukbong Katihan ng Komonwelt ng Pilipinas'/'Hukbong Katihan ng 'Malasariling Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas' in Filipino/Tagalog and Ejercito Mancomunidad Filipina'/'Ejercito Mancomunidad de Filipinas in Spanish) was initially organized under the National Defense Act of 1935 (Commonwealth Act No. 1) and the main ground force and formally created of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) (December 21, 1935-June 30, 1946), coming under the control of United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) (July 26, 1941-June 30, 1946) following the entry of U.S. into World War II and -following the occuptation of the Philippines by the Japanese - surviving military units in the Philippines came under the Military Area of the Commonwealth Army (January 03, 1942-June 30, 1946) and the United States Armed Forces in the Philippines - Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL) (January 01, 1942-June 30, 1946). It was founded on December 21, 1935 at the general headquarters on Manila, Commonwealth of the Philippines (December 25, 1935-January 02, 1942 and March 04, 1945-June 30, 1946) and some mainly general headquarters and military camp bases are actively around the provinces in the Philippines were located from Luzon, Visayas & Mindanao during the Commonwealth era (December 21, 1935-June 30, 1946) and surviving military units are fought against the Japanese Military Occupation during World War II (May 08, 1942-July 05, 1945) from the mainly engagements of the Anti-Imperial Japanese military operations in the Philippines are supporting the local troops of the Philippine Constabulary and USAFIP-NL military units in Northern Luzon, the local recognized guerrilla units, the Hukbalahap Communist rebels in Central Luzon, Moro Juramentados in Mindanao and Sulu and the U.S. and Allied liberation military forces was fought against the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces and the local collaborators. The Commanding Generals of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines included Major General Jose J. Delos Reyes (AFP) (January 11,-May 03, 1936 for PCA and December 15, 1935-May 06, 1936 for AFP), Major General Paulino T. Santos (AFP) (May 06 – December 31, 1936 for PCA and May 04, 1936 – December 31, 1938 for AFP), Major General Basilio J. Valdez (AFP) (January 01, 1939-November 07, 1945 for PCA and AFP) and Major General Rafael Jalandoni (AFP) (December 21, 1945-June 30, 1946). While the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the Philippine Commonwealth Army included President Manuel L. Quezon (November 15, 1935-August 01, 1944), President Sergio S. Osmena (August 01, 1944-May 28, 1946) and President Manuel A. Roxas (May 28,-June 30, 1946). The American General Douglas MacArthur was the Military Commander of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) and became the Field Marshal of the Philippine Commonwealth Army (July 26, 1941-June 30, 1946). Origin Before the establishment of the Commonwealth Government in November 15, 1935, no effort was made for self-defense by Philippine forces since the United States assumed responsibility for the defense of the islands. An immediate concern of the commonwealth government was the defense of an emerging nation. President-elect Manuel L. Quezon convinced his friend, General Douglas MacArthur (Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army), to organize a national army with Franklin D. Roosevelt's agreement in the summer of 1935. MacArthur had unusually-broad authority to deal with the Secretary of War and the Chief of Staff as military adviser to the commonwealth government to organize a Philippine national army. MacArthur had broad authority to deal with the United States Secretary of War, his successor as the Army Chief of Staff, and the United States Army Philippine Department and its commander Major General Lucius R. Holbrook (who had been told that his most important peacetime mission was to assist MacArthur in forming a Philippine force capable of defending the islands).MacArthur selected Majors Dwight D. Eisenhower and James B. Ord as his assistants; they and a committee at the Army War College prepared plans for the defense of the Philippine Commonwealth, with a target of independence in 1946. The plan called for a small regular army with divisions of about 7,500 men, conscription of all men between twenty-one and fifty years of age and a ten-year training program to build a reserve army, a small air force and a fleet of torpedo boats capable of repelling an enemy. The Philippine National Assembly's first act was the passage of the National Defense Act on December 21, 1935, with initial plans for a 10,000-man regular force based on the incorporation of the Philippine Constabulary and a 400,000-man reserve force by 1946 and a West-Point-type military academy in Baguio on Luzon. Quezon noted that there was inadequate funds and time to build an effective naval defense force; the act provided for no navy, but an Offshore Patrol within the army. The offshore patrol would be based on British-designed fast torpedo boats, with an anticipated thirty-six boats under contract by 1946. The Philippine Army Air Corps would, by that time, have about 100 bombers and additional tactical aircraft in support of the offshore patrol in coastal defense. The Commonwealth would have ten military districts (comparable to corps areas in the United States), each able to provide an initial reserve division (growing to three) with full development of the reserve force. In a 1936 speech MacArthur described the force's function as making an invasion so costly that no nation would make the attempt, emphasizing the islands' terrain as making penetration nearly impossible. Development was slow; 1936 was largely devoted to building camps and facilities, with the first conscripts called up on January 01, 1937. A major problem was the formation of a military-officer corps, with constabulary officers trained in law enforcement and limited numbers of Philippine Scouts officers becoming senior officers in the new force. By the end of 1939, the reserve force numbered 104,000 men and 4,800 officers. The Philippine Army Air Corps had about forty planes and a hundred trained pilots by 1940. The offshore patrol's development was more problematic, with only two British boats delivered before the war in Europe cut off further deliveries and a struggle to build boats under license locally produced only one boat by October 1941. President Quezon and others recognized that the naval defense was inadequate protection against a first-rate naval power, but the Philippines had neither the money nor industrial base to provide adequate naval force and relied on the assumption that the United States Navy would not idly stand by if the Philippines were attacked. When the war with Japan began, the Philippine Commonwealth Army was six years from its founding in December 1935 and about five years from the 1946 date at which it was to be fully operational. The naval force which was to protect it against a first-rate naval power was in ruins at Pearl Harbor; the Japanese had pilots standing by fueled-and-loaded bombers in Formosa, prepared to strike the Philippines. History During the Philippine Commonwealth & Pre-World War II era (1935-1941) The Commonwealth of the Philippines was formed in November 15, 1935 as an interim position to move the Philippines to independence from the United States of America that had governed the islands since 1898. The Philippine Commonwealth Army was the initially organized under the National Defense Act of 1935 (Commonwealth Act No. 1). The act specified that in so far as may be practicable, original appointments by the President in grades above third lieutenant should be made from among former holders of reserve commissions in the United States Army, from among former officers of the Philippine Scouts and Philippine Constabulary. After the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines on November 15, 1935 under the American colonial regime at the Legislative Building in Ermita, Manila, President Manuel L. Quezon the first president of the Commonwealth sought the services of General Douglas MacArthur to evolve a national defense plan. On December 21, 1935, the Philippine Commonwealth Army was renamed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) which effected the organization of a Council of National Defense and an Army of the Philippines. The act set forth the organizational structure of the army in some detail, set forth enlistment procedures, and established mobilization procedures. The development of the Philippine Commonwealth Army was slow. 1936 was devoted to the building of general headquarters, camps, organization of cadres, and the special training of instructors, drawn largely from the Philippine Constabulary. The commander of the Philippine Department provided Philippine Scouts as instructors and detailed U.S. Army officers to assist in the inspection, instruction, and administration of the program. By the end of the year instructors had been trained and camps included general headquarters had been founded and established. The first group of 20,000 to 40,000 men was called up on January 01, 1937 and by the end of 1939 there were 4,800 officers and 104,000 men in the reserves. Infantry training was given at camps scattered throughout the Philippines; field artillery training was concentrated in the vicinity of the U.S. Army's Fort Stotsenburg near Angeles City in the province of Pampanga, about fifty miles north of Manila, and specialized training was given at Fort William McKinley just south of Manila. Coast artillery instruction was carried on at Fort Stotsenburg and at Grande Island in Subic Bay by personnel supplied largely by the American commander at Corregidor. With the threat of war with the Empire of Japan becoming imminent, on July 26, 1941 a new U.S. command in the Far East was created, known as the United States Army Forces Far East (USAFFE) under the command of General Douglas MacArthur who also became the Field Marshal of the Commonwealth Army. On the same date, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, issued a Presidential Order (6 Fed. Reg. 3825) which called the Philippine Commonwealth Army into the service of the Armed Forces of the United States. The Presidential Order did not order all the military forces of the Philippine Commonwealth government into the service of the United States Armed Forces. Only those units and personnel indicated in orders issued by a general officer of the United States Army were mobilized and made an integral part of the USAFFE and only those members of a unit who physically reported for duty were inducted. With an annual appropriation of almost 16 million pesos, the mobilized units trained new Filipino members in defending the nation and defense. The Philippine Commonwealth Army was drawn from local Christian and Muslim Filipinos, including Native Filipinos, Filipino-Mestizos, Spanish-Filipinos, Chinese-Filipinos and Moro-Filipinos. By the time of the Japanese invasion the 10 reserve divisions were about two-thirds mobilized, for a force of 100,000 "poorly equipped and trained" troops. The Philippine Scouts numbered about 12,000. The army was primarily infantry, with some combat engineers and artillery. World War II and the Japanese invasion (1941-1942) Japanese Imperial forces invaded the Commonwealth of the Philippines on December 08, 1941; the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Commonwealth of the Philippines declared war against the Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany. President Quezon committed the Commonwealth government to joining the Allies against the Axis Powers. Around 100,000 to 300,000 active troops and officers were in the general headquarters and military camp bases of the Philippine Commonwealth Army garrisoned and located in the capital city of Manila and from the inactive of some to around the provinces and archipelago in the Philippines between Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao were established to start the occupation conflicts against the enemy. At this time, there were two regular and ten reserve divisions of the Philippine Commonwealth Army defending the Philippines. This included North Luzon Force (under then Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright), South Luzon Force (activated December 13, 1941) under Brigadier General George M. Parker Jr., the Visayan-Mindanao Force under Colonel William F. Sharp in the southern islands (61st, 81st, and 101st Infantry Divisions plus three other infantry regiments), and the Reserve Force. North Luzon Force included the 11th, 21st, and 31st Infantry Divisions, all reserve. South Luzon Force include the 1st Division (regular), and the 41st, 51st, and 71st (reserve) Infantry Divisions. These divisions were incorporated into the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). The Philippine Commonwealth government went into exile in Decemeber 24, 1941 to October 20, 1944; moving to Washington D.C. in the United States, while the Philippines was under Japanese occupation. President Manuel L. Quezon and his family including Vice President Sergio Osmena and Major General Basilio J. Valdez is a Commanding General of the Commonwealth Army and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines with the Commonwealth government and military officials and cabinet those the escape from this country and ride goes the submarine going to Australia and based from the United States. While to General Douglas MacArthur and his family including the American military officers and cabinet are becomes to escape again in this country and ride the P.T. Boats are those for did not and never arrested and capturing from the Imperial Japanese military hands and arrival in Australia on March, 1942. Start the Another Operations and Engagements While the another military operations and engagements from the units of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the USAFFE through aided of supporting the Philippine Scouts, Philippine Constabulary under the units of the Constabulary Regiment of the PCA 2nd Regular Division and the American ground troops of the United States Army, United States Marine Corps and United States Army Air Forces has lead the conquest of all invaded and attack from the entering landings by the Imperial Japanese forces under General Masaharu Homma and succeed to this country and become the battleground parts of the Japanese attack and invasion are including the Batan Island, Vigan, Aparri, Camiguin Island, Gonzaga, Legaspi, Naga, Davao, Bacnotan, Lingayen Gulf, Sipoco and Jolo Island on December 1941 before the main conquest for the defenders of Bataan and Corregidor in 1942. Battle and Fall of Bataan Peninsula (January 07 - April 09, 1942) While the Battle of Bataan on January 07, through April 09, 1942, the military and combat clearing operations of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the USAFFE military units in Bataan Peninsula was catching to supporting the Philippine Scouts, Philippine Constabulary under the regiments of the PCA 2nd Regular Division and the American ground troops of the United States Army, United States Marine Corps and United States Army Air Forces was routed to ground attack from the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces was under to General Masaharu Homma and other Japanese military officers was fought them to engagements. While the fighting and main battleground retreat of all stronghold troops of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the USAFFE units has around to Bataan Peninsula are included the Layac Line from 1941 through the junction battles and sieges of Layac Line, Porac and Guagua Line, Abucay-Mauban Line, Battle of Trail 2, Battle of the Pockets and Points, Orion-Bagac Line and the Fall of Bataan from the invading Japanese Imperial forces. While on April 03, 1942, the invasion of the Imperial Japanese forces between infantry and tanks was lined the battlegrounds at Mount Samat was operated by attacking the defenders of all stronghold Filipino and American forces on Orion-Bagac Line in Bataan and included the military force of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and USAFFE units has forced to clearing are becomes to retreating. In the aftermath of the Battle of Bataan on April 09, 1942 came the Bataan Death March. All 60,000-80,000 Filipino and American troops including the Commonwealth Army and USAFFE units becomes to surrender from the hand of Japanese Imperial forces and they captive on Bataan Peninsula and along the faring march of captured and surrendering Filipino and American troops as prisoners of war from the Japanese Hands are going to Mariveles, Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga, from the railway station in San Fernando are those prisoners of war are ride the train are loading the boxes are brought and going to the Japanese internment camps at Camp O'Donnell in Capas, Tarlac are finally to ground to march are inactive. Approximately 2,500–10,000 Filipino and 100–650 American prisoners of war died due to maltreatment before reached their destination in Bataan. Battle and Fall of Corregidor Island (May 05, - May 06, 1942) After the Battle of Bataan and Death March was sustaining of defeat and surrender of all defending Filipino and American forces from the Japanese Imperial military hands on last four month on inch year. While the military and combat clearing operations of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the USAFFE military units in the island of Corregidor from the engaging are fought against the enemy ground force and begins the Battle of Corregidor. The Japanese Imperial forces was landed at Corregidor and from the conquest inside the main island by the attack of all stronghold Filipino and American forces including the Commonwealth Army and USAFFE units are invaded battles to attack from the Japanese forces on May 05, 1942. Meanwhile, the fall of the island of Corregidor are engage to defeat and surrender of all defending Filipino and American forces including the units of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) as capture in action from the Japanese military hands on May 06, 1942 and capturing from the Japanese in this main island. Almost of all approximately of about 4,000 of the 11,000 American and Filipino military forces and between the Commonwealth Army and USAFFE units as prisoners of war from the island of Corregidor were marched through the streets of Manila to incarceration at Fort Santiago in Intramuros, Manila and Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, Rizal, criminal detention centers turned into Japanese POW camps. Aftermath of the Japanese Invasion After the Fall of the Philippines on May 06, 1942, the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces are headed to General Masaharu Homma has sustained to become taken and captured around in the Philippines from the defeated and surrendering Filipino and American military forces and with the units of the Commonwealth Army and USAFFE troops to engage the captive from the Japanese military hands. Almost of many individuals continued fighting as the recognized guerrillas and later the incoming and ongoing active troops and officers of the Philippine Commonwealth Army units before the conflicts and counters against the Japanese Military Occupation between the local PCA soldiers and guerrilla fighters are fought against the enemy. Conflicts Against the Japanese occupation (1942-1944) Operations of the Commonwealth Army during the Allied Liberation (1944-1945) Category:Philippines Category:Commonwealth of the Philippines (1935-1946) Category:Philippine Commonwealth Army Category:World War II in the Philippines (1941-1945)